IS 21 – Lesson 8: Textile: sustainability and the value chain
ground water bodies (unsustainable practices) and
- An indispensable pact of cultural and individual
expression, there is considerable opportunity to use
more sustainable fashion as means for individuals to
express their own identity as well as their commitment
to the sustainability agenda.
- One of the global importance, providing high levels of
employment, foreign exchange revenue, and products
essential to human welfare.
- In the last 15 years, clothing production has
approximately doubled while the number of times a
garment is worn before being discarded has decreased
36% compared to 15 years ago.
- With less than 1% of the material used to produce
clothing is recycled into new clothing, the textile
industry uses large amounts of resources leading to
negative impacts on the environment
- One study found that the global apparel and footwear
industries accounted for an estimated 8% of the world’s
GHG in 2016. More than all international flights and
maritime shipping combined.
- Over the past years, despite the spotlight has
increasingly turned to the environmental impacts in the
textile industry.
Growing cotton
- The textile value chain starts with fiber production,
usually cotton cultivation.
- Cotton is a water intensive crop, growing
predominantly in dry regions.
- China accounts for the largest share (34%) of the total
water scarcity footprint of global apparel.
- Cotton cultivation uses 2.5% of the world’s arable land
– land use is one of the main drivers of loss of
biodiversity worldwide.
- Growing cotton can potentially deplete surface or
pollutes freshwater ecosystems (agri-chemicals)
Impact on water resources:
- The global apparel industry consumes 215 trillion liters
of water per year.
- Value chain stages that are significant consumers of
water are raw material production, bleaching,
dyeing, and finishing in textile production, and use
(laundering)
- High water use in fiber production is due to the high
levels of water required in growing cotton.
- Raw material production (cotton growing) makes the
highest contribution to the water scarcity footprint of
the apparel value chain.
Fiber production:
- Countries in Asia are the largest producers of fiber and
yarn.
- Fiber production arises primarily from the production of
synthetic fibers
- Synthetics make up close to two thirds of the total
fibers used in global apparel and are produced from
fossil fuels, mainly crude oil.
- Synthetic fiber use is associated with the release of
microfibers (microplastics) these microfibers are shed
from synthetic textiles during laundering. Laundering of
textiles is identified as a major source of microfibers.
- These microfibers end up in the ocean and other
bodies of water, where they potentially have an effect
on aquatic life, birds, and even humans (given their
potential to be passed up the food chain)
Dyeing and finishing:
 - the energy intensive textile production stages account
for the majority of the climate impact
- the wet processing stages of dyeing and finishing are
especially energy intensive – large volumes of water
are need to be heated.
- China, India, and Bangladesh account for a high
proportion of the various global textile manufacturing
stages, and all rely heavily on fossil fuels for energy
generation.
- Textile production is a chemical intensive sector,
using and releasing hazardous chemicals with
significant human health and environmental impacts.
- The bleaching/dyeing and finishing stage (wet
treatment) is a clear hotspot in terms of carcinogenic
human toxicity.
- Hazardous chemicals have potential to build up in
secondary materials, and have therefore been
identified as a barrier to recycling.
The Garment Industry:
- A substantial contributor to employment in many
countries, especially of women
- Creates significant economic opportunities in
developing countries, particularly export opportunities.
Firms in developing countries integrate into the Global Value
Chain with the help of:
- Financial and business climate and related institutions
- Labor market policies and conditions
- Trade and industrial policy
- Social and territorial embeddedness
Trade Agreements:
- Studies found that trade agreements are a main trigger
of textile global value chain (GVC) participation – this
allowed the sector to survive and expand in many low
income countries
Fiber and textile production in developing/transitioning
countries
- Consumer’s expectation of low prices and competition
for market share among brands and retailers.
- Labor-intensive fiber and textile production are being
directed to developing/transitioning countries.
- Regulations and codes of conduct governing GVCs
may originate from civil society actors
- Social governance is exercised by civil society actors,
such as the NGOs and Labor Unions, and is usually
targeted at regulating workers’ rights and labor
conditions through various forms of activism.
o In Sri Lanka, the ‘Garment without Guilt’
campaign brought about a set of standards and
regulations that resulted in state-of-the-art
factories with high health and safety standards,
air-conditioning, and unified cafeterias for
management and production workers.
- Reputational risks to brands and retailers, especially of
the Human Rights abuses in their supply chain, are a
strong driver of improved labor practices.
The prevalence of Women in the textile work force:
- Universally, women are paid less than men. The ability
to pay women lower wages than men is seen as a way
to;
o Enhance investments and increase profits
o Keeps the cost of goods low for export
o Yet women are exposed to occupational injuries
and hazardous chemicals.
SOCIAL RISKS:
 - The garment industry is beset by poor working Initiatives to address the most pressing social and
conditions such as; environmental challenges:
o Forced and/or child labor
- Develop transparency standards
o Corruption
- Cotton cultivation guidelines
o Gender inequality
- Restricted substances lists
o High conflict
o Fragility in the legal system Sustainable textile industry:
o Exposure to toxins and hazards
- A sustainable textile industry is one that is;
o Wages below the country minimum wage
o Resource-efficient and renewable resources-
- The social life cycle assessment (SLCA) identifies:
based
o Fiber production: as the stage in the apparel
o Produces non-toxic high quality and affordable
value chain with the highest social risks.
clothing services and products.
- High social risk: Demand for ever shorter lead times
o Provides safe and secure livelihoods.
o The apparel market is characterized by short-
lived products. Whose products are only salable Circularity: principle of ‘reduce by design’
for a months or even weeks.
- Circularity is built on the overall guiding principles of
o This puts pressure on producers to constantly
reduce by design.
keep up with the changing demand.
- ‘reduce by design’ aims to reduce the amount of
o Workers are often required to work long hours.
material, particularly raw material, and hazardous
Fast Fashion: chemicals consumed during production and/or during
use.
- It is the trend for rapidly changing clothing lines at - Textile free of hazardous chemicals are a prerequisite
low prices designed to encourage consumers to buy for high quality textile recycling
more and keep their clothing for short periods.
- Fast fashion currently defines major parts of the Initiatives:
fashion industry.
- Initiatives such as better cotton initiative develops a
Value loss at end-of-life: sustainable cotton into a mainstream commodity.
- ‘detox my fashion’ and #whomademyclothes
- Value loss occurs through textile products not being campaigns that rely on consumers’ ability to exert
kept in service for as long as they could be, not being influence on brands and retailers.
resold or repurposed when consumers discard them
still in good condition – or not being sold in the first Anti-waste Law for a Circular Economy:
place, and being landfilled or incinerated rather than
- Between 10,000 and 20,000 tons of new textile
remanufactured or recycled when they reach
products are being destroyed in France each year.
material end-of-life.
 - The French government prohibits the disposal of
unsold non-food goods, including textiles
- Companies must donate or recycle their unsold
products
- Companies are pushed to rethink stock management
and reduce overproduction
- All stakeholders in the textile industry, from producers
to retailers, are concerned.
- Consumers now rethinks how they can best meet their
needs and live their aspirations with minimal impacts
on the planet and the people around them; it is a user
choice to use textiles and associated services for a
longer time (chooses clothes that lasts long) and buy
less frequently.
Circularity in the textile value chain:

- The aim of the circularity textile chain is to;

o Shift the ‘take-make dispose’ linear value chain
o Say yes to the circular system and changing it
to this system
o Where materials are not lost after use but
remains in the economy
o Materials circulating as long as possible at the
highest possible value.